The Bloody Swordsman
by Just That Fanboy Guy
Summary: You know what really sucks? Being trapped in a death game with 10,000 other people. You know what else sucks? Being a teenage vampire in a family of monster hunters. Kirigaya Kazuto knows both of these facts very well. Oddly enough, though, he finds that when put together they might actually make each other slightly less awful. Eventual KiritoxHarem
1. Prologue: Bloody Origins

**Disclaimer: In case you couldn't guess, I am not Reki Kawahara, and therefore do not own the rights to SAO. I just really enjoy it**

 **Prologue: Bloody Origins**

The sun shines brightly over the Saitama prefecture of Japan, the warm summer breeze blowing through the hair of children riding their bikes through the streets. They smile and laugh as the sun kisses their cheeks and lights their path. This… is not their story.

They pass one house on the street they are riding through, a house that, to the outside observer, would not be much different from any of the others on this same street. It was quite a nice two-story home with a lot of space, including a dojo in the backyard. With its curtains drawn in such a manner that no light could enter and there seeming to be no lights on within the house, one might assume that there is no one home. This assumption, however, would be incorrect. Within a room on the second floor of this house is a young man known as Kirigaya Kazuto.

Kazuto is, for all intents and purposes, a rather normal looking boy, if slightly effeminate. He is of a slight build and has dark eyes, looking black to those even a foot away from him. Though not as pale as one might expect of someone who spends as little time in the sun as he does, he still has fairly light skin as well as dark hair not falling past the base of his skull. A normal, rather unimpressive individual. Currently, he lays in his bed in the dark, simply staring up at the ceiling. This is something he does at times in an attempt to center himself, maybe try and feel more in touch with himself.

… Unfortunately for him, it only ever really makes him feel very, very bored, and today is no different. Sitting up with a groan, he looked over to the clock on his wall, being able to see it despite the lack of any light in the room, which read 10:30.

 _Hmm, about three hours until Sugu gets home,_ thought Kazuto. _I still need to have lunch before she gets here, but I suppose I can hop on HoH for a while._

HoH of course referred to _Home of Hostilities_ , a popular fantasy MMORPG where the players chose to either fight on the side of the Coalition, which mostly consisted of the classically human like races such as humans, elves and dwarves, or the Swarm, which generally contained more monstrous races like Orcs, Trolls and Goblins. Kazuto always preferred playing on the Coalition side, but his first account was actually with the Swarm.

Hopping onto the chair at his desk, Kazuto started his computer and logged onto HoH, deciding he would spend some time grinding for levels.

This was how Kazuto spent most of his time in these games, being that he was a solo-player in almost every game he played. It wasn't that he disliked talking or working with people. On the contrary, due to his closed-in lifestyle he almost craved the interactions he would get in his games. But that was the problem, the interactions didn't feel… real, to him.

Whether it was because of the third-person view you got of your character, or the odd mix of people going between speaking normally and role-playing, nothing really felt truly genuine to the young Kirigaya boy in these games.

It was these thoughts, among others, that went through Kazuto's, Kirito in the game, head as he swept through monster after monster, raising his level and doing quite a number on the durability of his sword.

He continued this for quite a while, losing track of time, before deciding to log out to have lunch. It wasn't until he looked over to his clock that the little color in his face drained away and he realized his mistake. It was 1:25 and Sugu would be home any minute.

Rushing downstairs, once again without turning lights on, Kazuto quickly ran to the refrigerator to grab the small pouch-like container holding his meal. He brought it over to the table on a plate with a paper napkin.

While he would normally put his meal in the microwave briefly to make it warm, he chose to forgo this today as he knew his adoptive sister would kill him (figuratively, in this case) if she thought he was skipping his meals. He quickly brings the pouch with meal up to his face and opens his mouth. His already sharper than normal canines grew longer and sharp like knives. Kazuto bites down on the pouch, only allowing these new inhumanly sharp teeth to pierce it. As he does so, he cringes slightly from the cold and small bit of red liquid escapes from the pouch and runs down, dripping on his plate.

He quickly finishes his meal and hurriedly cleans his dish and throws away his napkin and pouch, running up stairs and entering his room just as he hears the front door open and sees the light being turned on. He sighs in relief and plops down on his chair.

 _Well,_ he thinks to himself, _I suppose I'll hop back on HoH and then browse some forums. Today's shaping up to be pretty dull._

Man, life sure is hard for teenage vampire.

Well… life is kind of a strong word in this case.

Kirigaya Kazuto was never going to have, what some might call, a normal life, even before he discovered he was a vampire.

What do I mean by discovering? Well, it's a rather convoluted story. You see, he was not infected with vampirism as most people are, so much as he inherited it.

When his mother was still pregnant with him, she was attacked by a vampire and infected, being transformed into one. Her husband was not so lucky and was killed in the same attack.

Now, normally one would have no idea what to do, as the existence of monsters and such are, even today, a secret from most of the world. Luckily for Narusaka Aoi, her sister had married into an… interesting family.

Kirigaya Midori had lived quite an average life until she met her someday husband, Kirigaya Minetaka, and was introduced to the world of Monsters. In truth, Minetaka and his father, a man named Ando, were Monster Hunters, two of the few humans who knew of the existence of monsters and chose to stand against them to protect humanity. Though he tried to hide this for as long as he could, Midori eventually learned of it and decided it didn't matter to her. She loved him regardless of what he did. Soon enough after that, they were married.

This worked out well for Midori's sister, as that meant she had access to two of the few people that may be able to help her and save her baby.

Minetaka's father was… less than understanding. He immediately wanted to kill Aoi, the baby be damned. Luckily, he was persuaded against it by his son and daughter-in-law. It was decided that they would help Aoi through her child's birth, unsure of what state the baby would be in (vampire or human), and then try to help her live with her vampiric nature.

You see, vampire biology is… confusing, to say the least. While they are not actually alive, there are recorded instances in which a vampire has had a child with a human. How this is possible, nobody has really determined. It is especially uncertain considering no two vampires have ever had a child. Additionally, while vampires need blood (either human or animal) in order to survive, they can still eat food, though it causes discomfort and nausea to them. This is necessary for female vampires carrying a child, as blood will not sustain it.

The point of this is, there is a precedent set for Aoi's child surviving its mother being transformed into a vampire, even if there wasn't an instance where a mother was transformed while still pregnant.

In the end, both Aoi and her baby, Kazuto, survived. To start off, Kazuto didn't seem to have any signs of vampirism and his mother was surviving well by animal blood, making it so neither Minetaka nor his father felt the need to end her life.

A year after Kazuto's birth, however, another Monster Hunter got wind of Aoi's existence, hunting her down and slaying her without care that she was living off of only animals and not humans. Midori and Minetaka were luckily able to hide Kazuto's existence from the hunter and saved his life. They then took him in and adopted him into to their family, giving their daughter Suguha a big brother.

Throughout most of his childhood, Kazuto continued to show few signs of being a vampire, making his adoptive parents and grandfather believe he was human. Sure, he was more prone to sunburn than others and preferred his meat particularly rare, but he always acted like a normal little boy. It was because of this that Minetaka's father decided to introduce both him and Sugu to the family business.

He started teaching the two children combat in the form of kendo as well as other monster hunting techniques. It was at this time that Kazuto's family found some of the more… peculiar, traits about him. He was stronger, faster and more durable than any boy his age should be, and his reactions were inhumanly fast. Once beginning to display these abilities, Kazuto found he was never really satisfied after he ate his meals, always feeling something… lacking. Not exactly hunger, but something akin to it. This was troublesome for the Kirigayas. They had come to see the boy as though he truly was their son/grandson and didn't want to jump to conclusions about him regardless of his origins.

So, they devised a test. His grandfather would expose him to small amounts of what was generally harmful to a Vampire. That way they could determine his nature with more certainty and also prevent him from actually being killed from over exposure. The test was given on a warm Saturday in the middle of spring, under the ruse of having a day of having a solo training day between Kazuto and his grandfather. Obviously, sunlight effected the boy little more than an average human, so that wasn't going to help in the investigation. Salt lines were always placed in the entryways of the dojo and Kazuto never had trouble entering, nor did he have a problem with entering places without being invited inside, so those were out as well. Garlic didn't actually affect vampires much, so there wasn't a point to testing that.

Thus, there were two primary tools used against vampires left to test. Silver and holy weaponry.

The two started off the day of training by Kazuto's grandfather telling him stories about his time hunting monsters. For one particular story, the eldest of the Kirigayas showed his grandson an old katana, containing traces of silver which, he recounted, he used to slay a werewolf in Hong Kong. He offered for Kazuto to hold it and the eight-year-old, as most would, jumped at the chance. His grandfather tentatively handed him the sword… and nothing happened. It didn't burn him, it only made him stare in awe at the monster slaying sword. His grandfather, when realizing nothing happened, released a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding.

' _Things were working out well_ ,' he thought, ' _everything is going to be fine.'_ And everything _was_ fine… until they tried the holy water.

It was after they had finished the first half of their normal training session, a bit more work than Kazuto was used to since he usually switched with Sugu between rounds of sparring against his grandpa. So at the halfway mark they decided to take a break, his Grandfather offering Kazuto a small flask of water and telling him to use it to cool off. Kazuto thought it was a bit odd but wasn't about to complain. He opened the flask, leaned his head back and poured the water onto his face.

The pain was like nothing he'd ever felt. It was as if someone slashed open every nerve ending on his face, poured lemon juice in them and then set them on fire. From the outside, his grandfather saw as Kazuto started screaming in agony, clawing at his face as steam began to rise from where the water had been poured.

"Kazuto! Kazuto!" Ando yelled as he ran to his adopted grandson. What he saw when he got there was something he wished he had never seen. Besides the red burn where the holy water had hit him, Kazuto's eyes had morphed monstrously with blood red sclera surrounding a golden, animal-like iris. Looking down further, Ando saw what he feared most, his grandson's canines had morphed into long, dagger like fangs designed to pierce through the body and suck blood. He saw all of this in just moment before his grandson, his face a mix of terror, pain and a fury Ando had never seen on Kazuto's face before, lashed out and through him across the dojo into a rack of training weapons.

Kazuto, though still feeling the unimaginable pain, snapped out of the daze he was in and rushed over to his grandfather.

"Grandpa! Are you oka-" Kazuto's worried question was cut off by his grandfather swinging a bokken at him and hitting him across the face. Though this wouldn't normally be much to the very resilient boy, he was still recovering from whatever that water was, and that combined with the shock had made him fall to the ground. "G-grandpa?"

"Back!" Ando yelled at Kazuto, swinging his bokken again as the boy backed away "Get back you beast!"

The bokken finally hit the boy, the holy water having slowed him down and lessened his resistance, and he cried out in pain. "Please grandpa," he cried out tearfully, "I don't want to do this anymore!" The beatdown continued for another minute before something, or rather someone, stopped it.

Kirigaya Suguha knew she shouldn't be trying to spy on her brother and grandfather's private lesson, but she couldn't help her curiosity! They were probably getting to the good stuff already, and she didn't want to get left in the dust! So she had meandered her way over to the dojo just in time to hear her brother yell "I don't want to do this anymore" and then the sound of impacts. She looked inside to see her grandfather beating up her brother! She ran over to stop it as quickly as she could, jumping in front of Kazuto to shield him from their grandfather's sword.

Now, obviously Sugu didn't fully know what was going on. How would she possibly guess that her brother, who was actually her cousin, was a vampire that had accidentally thrown her grandfather across the room just a moment ago. So, she used context clues and came to the conclusion that her brother was quitting their training and her grandpa wasn't so pleased about that, so she promised that she would work twice as hard so that she could train for herself as well as Kazuto.

Ando wasn't sure what to do. He couldn't really confront what was going on with Sugu right there, whatever he did would probably do a great deal of damage to her psyche, either telling her the truth about Kazuto or simply killing him on the spot. It didn't help the matter that his heart broke at the sight of Kazuto, who had seemed so terrifying a moment ago, laying fearfully on the floor with tears streaming down his face. The monstrous changes from before having vanished, save for slightly sharper canines than before. So he simply nodded stiffly and turned to go inside the house, needing to tell Minetaka and Midori the situation.

He tried to ignore the gasp and concerned cries of Sugu saying "Onii-chan what happened to your face?"

It was later that same night that Kazuto was made aware of his origins and he was… shocked to say the least. How was he supposed to react to that? Well, regardless of what he _should have_ done, what he _did_ do was distance himself from most of his family, especially his grandfather. He quit his training as a monster hunter, doubting Ando would even allow a Vampire to train with him. With his primary activity blocked to him now, Kazuto needed something else to pour his passion into. He had always had an affinity for computers, having built one a few months before. He suspects he got it from his mother's side of the family. Regardless, that was where he turned to, burying himself in the world of online gaming.

Additionally, either from the exposure to holy water or simply due to him beginning to go through puberty, Kazuto's body began to change in several less-than-human ways. Actual food stopped being any form of nourishment to him, though it didn't cause him as much discomfort to eat as it did most vampires. Thus, Kazuto began drinking animal blood from animals his father hunted in the short stints he was home for. Kazuto was never allowed to hunt himself due to the fear Midori had over someone finding him like they found her sister. Due to the family deciding they didn't want Sugu to know, and the others not really wanting to see a vampire feed, Kazuto began having his meals alone. He had also started developing an aversion to sunlight. Though he could stay in direct sunlight for about an hour without actually being harmed, it still stung quite a bit.

Despite all of these changes, the one thing that stayed the same was Kazuto's relationship with Sugu. As much as he was angry at his adopted parents for keeping this secret from him and how worried he was of losing control of his monstrous nature, he knew he would never do anything to harm his little sister. He needed something to remain the same from before and he didn't want to lose her. He even planted Salvia flowers at a nearby shrine to give to her for her next birthday, knowing how much he loved their nectar.

Despite that, things were destined to change in the end. Just a month before he turned ten, Kazuto was sitting inside reading a book while Sugu was playing over by the relatively small pond in their backyard. Kazuto heard a splash and looked over, not seeing Sugu anywhere. The little color in his face drained. Sugu didn't know how to swim, they were planning on teaching her in the previous summer but weren't able to due to an outbreak of sirens at the nearby coasts which his adoptive father had to deal with. Knowing what must have happened, Kazuto ran over to the pond and jumped in to get her without hesitation.

Now, this pond was a very special one. The Kirigayas had lived in this household for a long time due almost entirely to this pond. For it had been blessed by priests many years ago and was the source for every Kirigaya hunter's supply of holy water.

Kazuto was well aware of this.

The minute he had pulled himself and his sister out of the pond, the sound of Sugu coughing telling him that she didn't need resuscitation, he stumbled back into the shade of his porch while screaming in agony. The same unbelievable pain he felt that day now spread over every inch of his body. It wouldn't stop. Every second felt like an eternity. Dear god, he just wanted it to end!

"Onii-chan?" He had to stop himself from lashing out like he had against his grandfather when he heard Sugu's voice just a step away from him. He looked at her and saw her expression change from confusion to shock.

"S-Sugu…" his voice broke as he said her name. This was it. It was over. The last remaining thread he had to his old life had just been snapped.

Then Sugu did something entirely unexpected to Kazuto. She hugged him. She just wrapped her arms around him and held him, even as steam continued to rise from his body, enveloping both of them.

"Sugu?"

"It's okay Onii-chan. Thank you," she began whispering in his ear. "Thank you, thank you, thank you…" Sugu continued whispering as she held him and rocked back and forth.

Kazuto didn't know when tears had started falling from his eyes, but he definitely felt them at that moment when he buried his face in the crook of Sugu's neck. That is how they stayed for a long time, no sound escaping them except for Sugu's soothing words and quite sobs from Kazuto. And even as he felt the burning pain engulfing him, he felt an odd warmth spreading in the pit of his stomach and his chest.

It was later that day that Sugu's mother told her the whole truth. That Kazuto wasn't really her brother, that he was actually a vampire (though he still lacked many vampiric traits) and that that day in the dojo had been them testing him to see if he truly had contracted vampirism from his biological mother.

Kazuto thought that this would make Sugu fear him, maybe even hate him, and that he'd lose the last connection he had with his adopted family, but it was the exact opposite. While they were always close before, being probably the best friends either of them had, after this you'd think they were connected at the hip. While they did have to separate whenever Sugu had training or school (Kazuto having been home-schooled for the past year and a half) or when Kazuto had to feed (it was at his insistence, he didn't want her to see that), they were inseparable other than that. Every moment she had to spare, Sugu would either be hanging off of her brother's arm or peeking over his shoulder to watch whatever game he was playing. She didn't want to go anywhere without him.

This is where Kazuto found the problem. The several weeks this had taken place in were the best times he'd had since before the incident, but Sugu didn't seem to want to do anything besides be with him. Before she had fallen into that pond, she had started becoming quite a popular young girl. She had friends she loved to hang out with and she was becoming a well-known fixture in her school's kendo club. But now she barely spoke to any of her friends outside of school and had even taken a leave of absence from her club, never doing anything kendo related except her training. She had also grown distant from their grandfather who was beginning to show signs of physical decline.

Kazuto realized that if this continued, Sugu would completely ostracize herself from society in favor of keeping him company. Given his nature, Kazuto knew he would never be able to do much, if anything, in the outside world with other people without fear of someone discovering his secret. He couldn't condemn Sugu to this life too. So he did what always ended up doing, turned away and left his sister behind. He used a cold personality and a refusal to be with her like he was before to cut the thread that just never seemed to break.

Kazuto stretched and rubbed his eyes after logging off of HoH for the night. He looked over to his clock to see it was about 7:30. Sugu should have eaten by now and would either be in her room or in the dojo training, meaning he should be free to go get his dinner and even warm it up before drinking. He had to make sure he fed regularly as both he and his adoptive family worried that he might go a bit too beastly if he didn't nourish himself. If that happened and he went out of control he knew Sugu or his adoptive father would have to kill him (literally, in this case). He sighed at the fact that it had been over a week since he had a face-to-face conversation with any member of his family, only his mother or sister reminding him to have his meals through his door and him mostly grunting in response. Having pretty much no one to talk to was… less than pleasant.

 _Almost every single vampire that has been found and hunted down in the last hundred and fifty years has been known to live relatively isolated from the rest of society with the only people they actually interact with being those they would later consume. They would live like this for decades, even centuries._ Kazuto recalls this from a lesson he'd had with his grandfather before the incident. _If that's the case, and I really am one of those monsters, then why am I so lonely after only two years of not even being entirely alone?_

Even though he had worked to isolate himself from his family, Kazuto still inevitably had to interact with them. The conversations usually ended up being cordial but lacked a lot of the warmth there had been before Kazuto discovered what he was. Even without that, he had "befriended" some people over the internet, but it all still lacked the connection to another person that, though he'd never admit it, he craved.

Still, Kazuto had always been stubborn and refused to try and mend the bridges that had been burned. It is for this reason he decided to spend a bit of time on some tech forums to make sure he avoided seeing Sugu. He also wanted to do this because he had been unable to watch the livestream of a tech convention where new things were being unveiled and announced and he wanted to catch up.

It was the post at the top of the forum that immediately caught his eye. It was apparently some new innovative gaming device announced by Argus that would supposedly revolutionize gaming by creating a full VR experience. Kazuto was just starting to read more in depth into what this was all about when Sugu called from outside his door, surprising.

"Onii-Chan? I have to get up really early tomorrow so I'm going to take a shower and go to bed. Make sure you have dinner." Sugu hesitates a moment before adding "And stop playing on the computer without lights on, okay? You'll damage your eyes."

"O-okay, Sugu," Kazuto says, the surprise after being so engrossed in his reading preventing him from putting up his cold façade with his response. "Goodnight."

As he stands up to go have dinner, he thinks to himself _Can my eyes even be damaged by things like that?_ He shakes his head. _Oh well, doesn't really matter. I better hurry up and have dinner…_

… _I wanna read more about this_ NerveGear _thing._

 **Greetings and salutations. I welcome you all to the wonderful world of this AU I'm writing. And by "wonderful world" I of course mean "pretty poorly written fanfiction". But regardless of the actual quality of the writing, I hope you enjoyed regardless.**

 **The idea for this fic basically just popped into my head one night when I was going to sleep and I thought "that's pretty neat, I should write that down". So I did, in the form of this chapter.**

 **I was also inspired by the fics by SaintInfernalNeos, the patron "Saint" of KiritoxHarem fanfiction. It is nowhere near the skill or magnitude of that dude's stories, but it's what got me to start thinking about this stuff.**

 **When I was writing this I was trying to figure out what I should do with Sugu and the rest of Kazuto's family, then I thought "Hey, why not make them monster hunting badasses?" No fear, I still try to characterize Sugu pretty much the same as in canon for the most part, she'll just also hunt monsters. Sometimes. She is still training. If I do end up continuing this I have many ideas for how I'm going to change other characters to fit the "Supernatural" aspect of this story. I say if because I want to, but I'm really bad at continuing thigns sometimes.**

 **Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this and I'll see you (possibly) next time.**


	2. Chapter 1: This Really Sucks

**Greetings and Salutations everyone, thank you for all the support on the previous chapter! I'll take this moment to respond to the reviews on the previous chapter, so feel free to skip to the chapter if you like!**

 **AmethystPone: Well, the Vampirism doesn't change much about his actual abilities in game (Besides having even better reaction time, making him even more op xD), but it will effect how he reacts to certain things, his personality and his reasons for certain things. Hopefully I'm able to convey that in the following chapter. More will be effected when out of the game. I hope the answer is satisfactory and you enjoy the chapter!**

 **TheDarkHollow: Thank you! I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

 **Flo463: I'm glad you liked it! Read on and all your questions shall be answered :)**

 **SaintInfernalNeos: Ahhh, thank you very much! Yes, the world always needs more cute Sugu. Thank you again Saint-San!**

 **Apex86: Anything is possible! (Well, maybe not while Kazuto is in SAO, but…) Yeah, I have many ideas for other characters and their changes that I'm excited for! Yes, I will try my best!**

 **Disclaimer: In case you couldn't guess, I'm not Reki Kawahara, and don't own the rights to SAO. I just really enjoy it.**

* * *

 **Chapter 1: This Really Sucks**

Kazuto was excited. Really excited. Like, more excited than one might imagine a vampire in a family of monster hunters could be. But he has good reason for his excitement. Because today he is finally going to reenter the world of Aincrad.

After the announcement of the first major game for the NerveGear, a VRMMO called Sword Art Online, Kazuto was pumped. When he was chosen as one of the thousand people to be a beta tester, he was beyond pumped. And when he actually got to play the game, how he felt was indescribable, but probably some variation of 'pumped'. Everything he had hoped for in the virtual world was _real_. He was able to feel the sun without it hurting him for the first time in years. Food actually left him feeling satisfied, at least within the game. It all _felt_ real.

Including the people. Not the NPCs necessarily, they still had some odd quirks, but the actual players. That was the best part in Kazuto's eyes. Sure, there was still some weirdness when it came to people going in and out of "role play mode", but actually being able to stand and look at people when talking to them was insane for Kazuto. For the first time it was like he could make real friends within the virtual world, though he was still pretty introverted by nature.

It was very disappointing when the beta ended, but Kazuto knew it wouldn't be too long before he could go back.

That day was today. After two months, the servers were officially going to open and he would return home to the floating castle. He was in such a good mood that he even said goodbye to Sugu when she told him she was going to kendo practice and reminded him to feed himself while she was gone. Sugu was surprised by this, but ended up leaving in quite a good mood because of it.

It was after having his lunch that he checked the time and found he had only two minutes left until the servers would open up. He rushed up stairs and set himself up with his NerveGear in his bed. He grinned as he watched time finally ticking up to 1:00. He then said the words he had been waiting to say for two months.

"Link Start!"

As the colorful start up animation rushed passed him, Kazuto had one thought in his mind.

Today is going to be a good day.

* * *

It was not a good day.

It had started out pretty great for Kazuto. Once he logged into SAO he had even started showing a guy named Klein the ropes. This all changed, however, when they were both teleported to the starting town, along with every other player, and told that if they die in the game their brains will be fried. Also, they were changed to look exactly as they did irl for whatever reason.

So, yeah, not a great day.

Kazuto's mind raced at a mile a minute, trying to sort through the mess of emotions and stimuli that were being thrown at him to see what he should do.

 _He's insane! Trapping 10,000 people in a game, and for what reason?_ Kazuto shook his head. _No, that doesn't matter. I need to figure out what to do._

 _Okay, first thing's first, does this actually affect me? Sure, I'm trapped in here with everyone else, but what about the risk of death? I don't_ think _the microwaves would be enough to kill me, though there hasn't really been a situation where this could be tested by monster hunters in the field, but they would still cause heavy damage to my brain that would take a long time to regenerate from. Best-case scenario is I'm stuck in a vegetative state for a few years, maybe even decades. Worst-case scenario is I lose all sense of self making it so I go on a hunger-fueled rampage, killing who knows how many in the process, before I am put down by a monster hunter, probably either Sugu or dad, if he's around. Either way, don't really want to try it._

 _Still, I can't very well just stand around here. As scared as I am, we need to clear this game. There are 10,000 lives at stake! Okay, I can take Klein and we can get to some of the better leveling spots early, maybe get some good equipment fast. I need to contact Argo, see if she knows of any changes since the be-_

 _Argo._

Kazuto's virtual heart skipped a beat as he wordlessly opens up his friends list, which had luckily remained since the beta. He hadn't made many friends in the beta, his generally poor social skills having been amplified by his years of isolation, but there were a couple he hit it off with enough to actually add each other as friends. What he saw made his breath get caught in his throat. Argo, an information broker he had gotten along with very well in the beta, had her name on the list same as it always was when she was logged on. However his other friend, a kind green haired girl named Merida, had her name grayed out. Kazuto prayed that this simply meant that she had never logged on as opposed to…

Kazuto shook his head, going through all of this in the short instant of peace after Kayaba had disappeared. It was after that, all hell broke loose. People were screaming, running in different directions, looking for friends, there was no order whatsoever.

Kazuto quickly grabbed Klein's wrist and dragged him through the masses of screaming players into an alleyway away from the chaos, telling him his plan and asking if he wants to join him. He was disappointed when he saw Klein shaking his head.

"Sorry, man," Klein began "but I waited in line with my friends for ages to get this game. I've gotta stick with them, make sure they're gonna be alright. Do you think, maybe…"

As Klein let his question peter out before completing it, Kazuto stiffened. He understood what Klein was asking. He wanted to go along with Kazuto's plan but bring his friends as well. Honestly, this would have been a dream come true for Kazuto in the beta. To be invited into a close-knit group of friends as one of their own? It was something the secluded boy had wanted for a long time. But…

 _When you're on a hunt, you have to keep the groups small._ Kazuto recalled the words his grandfather had told him and Sugu many years ago. _For most cases, you can get the job done on your own or with one or two partners at most, with exceptions being made for bigger threats. Any more than that and you're asking for trouble. You'll draw more attention to yourselves and if you don't work well together you'll just end up getting each other killed._

While it wasn't the exact same situation, Kazuto couldn't help but feel as though joining Klein's group would pose the same risks. More people being gathered attracts more monsters, to adjust the difficulty accordingly, and joining a party that large would severely cripple his leveling speed. This isn't even taking into account team dynamics. He hasn't been that close with anybody in years, what if he didn't get along with them and someone ended up dying? Even if they got along perfectly well, he would have to teach a bunch of brand new players to do everything, and he couldn't guarantee he could protect all of them.

Klein could see the conflict that had set in on Kazuto's face and quickly decided that it would be best to paint a way out for him.

"Ah, what am I talking about? I can't keep relying on you the whole game. I was a guild master in the last game I played! You go on ahead, I'm gonna show my guys the ropes and then we'll get moving." Klein smiled somewhat before adding "Besides, you're a beta-tester, if anyone's got a chance to clear this game it's you guys, and I'm not gonna be the one holding you back."

Kazuto hesitated, and then nodded. He turned away from Klein before saying "This is where we part ways then. If you need help, just send me a message."

He began walking away before Klein called to him. "Hey, Kirito! I think you look way cooler like this than you did as your avatar!"

Kazuto smiled before calling back "You too. The scruffy look suits you!" He waved and began to run.

As he ran, how Klein had addressed him stuck in his head.

 _Kirito._

That's right. In this world, he wasn't Kirigaya Kazuto.

He wasn't the lonely kid who spent 90% of his time in his room in the dark.

Nor was he an infernal being who had to be afraid every time he stepped into the sun.

Nor was he even the failed Monster Hunter who never completed his training.

Until he beat his game and destroyed this world… he was only one thing.

He was Kirito, the Swordsman.

* * *

Kirigaya Suguha was just about all cried out. When she had heard the news of Kayaba Akihiko's "attack" and the people trapped in that game, she rushed home to check on Kazuto. While he may have built a wall between himself and his sister, she still loved him. That was why, when she got home and found her mother already there with a tear-soaked face, she couldn't hold back.

It had been about 45 minutes since then. Midori had gone to call Minetaka soon after Sugu had arrived, trying to figure out what they were supposed to do. They couldn't exactly take their adopted son to a hospital, right? But they didn't know how long he could go without blood. This left Sugu alone in Kazuto's room, watching over his lifeless body. Sugu's inability to cry any more made it so she was left only with pure, unadulterated hatred she suddenly felt for the man she had never heard of before this day. Not only had he trapped her adopted brother in a game, but he had done the same to 10,000 others. Over two hundred were already dead from tampering with the NerveGear. He had trapped kids in there, innocent people who just wanted to play a game, and he was putting their lives at risk. The anger she felt couldn't be contained towards just that one person though, it permeated off her, some even being directed towards the boy lying in front of her, making it unclear of how many of the tears that had yet to dry from her face were from grief and how many were from her anger.

 _Damnit Onii-Chan, why did you have to get trapped? Why did you have to cut yourself off from me? Why did you leave me with our last good memory together being so long ago?_

It was in this state, glaring down at her adopted brother with a mix of anger and heart break, that Sugu was in when she heard the door to Kazuto's room open, revealing her mother and a man she hadn't met before.

He was tall and lanky, with brown hair cut short and round glasses on his face. He sported a kind smile and gentle features, and his posture was relaxed. Despite all this, Sugu felt an air of danger around the man, almost as if he was passively giving off killing intent. This sensation wasn't helped by seeing her mother looking uncharacteristically tense at the side of the man.

Sugu stood up and automatically positioned herself between Kazuto and the man, turning her glare away from the "sleeping" boy and towards the unknown quantity who might threaten him. The man continued to smile a stepped forward, bowing slightly.

"It is a pleasure to meet you," the man said in a friendly voice, "My name is Kikuoka Seijirou. I am here to help with your brother's… situation."

As Kikuoka continued to smile, Sugu couldn't help but feel a chill go down her spine.

* * *

 _How did I get into this?_ Kirito sighed, looking across at the girl leaning against a tree in front of him. He had just been going through the dungeon, grinding and mapping out the floor, like usual, when all of a sudden he runs into this girl who basically trying to commit suicide via monster, who then fainted forcing him to drag her out of the dungeon (which was an ordeal in-and-of itself). Now, to top it off, she was sitting there telling him that it was "Unnecessary Effort" for him to save her. _This girl is a real pain in my-_

"Unnecessary-"

"Yeah, I heard you the first time," Kirito cut her off, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Look, if you die, all your map-data goes with you. You were pretty far into the dungeon so that data could really help out other front-liners."

"Fine. Take it." The hooded girl then opened her menu and transferred the data over to me. "Now, if you'll excuse me."

Kirito resisted the urge to sigh again as she shakily got to her feet, clearly not ready to move let alone fight. Deciding to give it another shot, he spoke up again. "Hey, you're at least kind of trying to clear the game, right? Not just get yourself killed in the most inconvenient way possible?" This made the girl stop and glare at him. He continued "Well, if that's the case, you might as well come to the meeting."

"… Meeting?"

"Yeah, the Boss Strategy meeting in Tolbana this afternoon. I'd imagine you'd at least want to present for that." The girl hesitated for a several long seconds before nodding. Kirito allowed a small smile to form on his lips. "Great. Now sit back down 'Fencer-San', I don't want to have to drag you there because to passed out again."

"Oh shut up!" came the first real outburst of emotion from the girl Kirito had seen. Still, with her face flushed, she sat back down.

* * *

"Oi, Kii-bou." A high pitched voice was the first thing that greeted Kirito after he left the mysterious girl to her own device until the meeting. He turned to see the mischievously smiling face of Argo, his first friend in this world, looking back at him. "I see you found 'weird girl with the hood'. Glad to see she survived, only to have my dear friend start putting the moves on her. You want her info? I'll sell it to ya cheap."

"Hello to you too, Argo." Kirito roles his eyes but still smiles slightly at the actions of his friend, deciding in which the order to answer her. "One, I'm not sure trying to 'Put the moves on her'. Two, no thanks to the info. Three, since when has any info you've sold me been 'cheap'? And four," he smirks slightly "I'm not sure how well that nickname is gonna work out considering you are the epitome of a 'weird girl with a hood'."

"Nyehehe," Argo cackles, "And what exactly are you calling her? Fencer-chan or something?"

The smirk drops from Kirito's face as he crosses his arms and looks away "That's beside the point! Now why's you come find me Argo? Is it business or pleasure?"

"Oh, c'mon Kii-bou. We both know it's always a pleasure to talk with me~" Argo purred in a very cat-like manner for someone who is widely known as 'The Rat' as she smiled up at Kirito in a cute manner. She sighed when she was only met with his deadpan expression. "And it's always business with you, huh? Alright, the truth is I got another offer. 29.8 K this time."

"This guy really wants my sword, huh?" Kirito said, referring to the mystery player who had continually tried to buy his +6 Anneal Blade from him through Argo. That was a lot of money, but still… "No deal. A swordsman without his sword would be a pretty sorry sight."

Argo simply nodded "You got it. Probably for the best, you're going to that boss meeting today, yeah?" When Kirito simply nodded in response she continued "Alright, I'll probably see you over there then. See if you can get hood-chick to come too. She's got some major talent for a total noob at MMOs." She then winked impishly "Just don't do anything I wouldn't do~'

Kirito let out a dry chuckle at this "It'd be better advice to not do anything you _would_ do."

Kirito heard a fading cackle as she disappeared into an alleyway. He sighed and decided to go find somewhere to eat.

Looking around he eventually stumbles upon the mystery girl eating a piece of bread with a… less than satisfied look on her face. It wasn't necessarily disdainful, more apathetic than anything. Making a decision, he walked up beside her and spoke up "Ah, I see you're a woman of taste." The girl looked up at him, this time it was disdainful. "May I sit next to you?" As she simply turned away from him in a huff, he took it a 'yeah, sure, go for it', but still remained a solid meter away from her, just to be safe. He takes his own bread out of his inventory and starts preparing to eat before the girl says anything to him.

"You actually like the taste of this stuff?"

Kirito tilts his head at her. "Yeah, of course. I eat it every day. Oh, I do add something to it, though." Manipulating his inventory again he takes out small jar and puts it between them. "Here, try using this on your bread."

The girl raises an eyebrow at him and looks confused for a moment before hesitantly tapping the jar and then her bread. A thick substance appears on the loaf and the girl gave a surprised look. "Cream?"

"Yeah, I got it from this quest called 'Cows of the Counterattack' in the previous village. Takes a bit of time to get done, but I think it's pretty worth it." Kirito taps the jar similarly to how the girl did and spreads the cream on his bread before the jar shatters into blue polygons. "Looks like I'll have to go do it again in the next couple of days. Oh well." He bites into his bread and, as the taste spreads through his mouth, he feels a sense of nostalgia.

Neither of his parents were home much in his younger days (well, they weren't home much now either, but that's besides the point), so a lot of the time, before losing the satisfaction from eating, he and Sugu would have to improvise their own snacks if they got hungry before dinner. Most of the time these snacks would take the form of a piece of bread or a roll with some cream slathered on it. That was probably why he chose his daily meal like he did when he could afford to actually buy some more extravagant foods from the inns.

Releasing a sigh, he looks over at the girl to see her scarfing down the now flavorful meal looking much less apathetic towards it than before. He smiles slightly before doing the same.

* * *

Well, this was pretty surprising. For all of the things Kirito had prepared for, the mystery girl, who he no knew as Asuna, choosing to follow him to his lodging to use his bath was… not one of them.

Now, for all of his snark, antisocial tendencies, and infernal blood, he was still a teenage boy and his hormones were still very much functional. Having a girl who he had just met, and also happened to be one in the handful of people he had a real 'relationship' with in the past four years, be taking a bath in the next room was making him… flustered, one could say. It took all he had to try and focus on the boss guide-book which Argo had released earlier that day for Ilfang the Kobold Lord.

It was for this reason that he jumped up in surprise when he heard the signature knock of said info-broker. Getting up and trying to shake-off his surprise, he went to the door to let Argo in.

"Hey, Kii-bou. How goes it?" She says as she walks past him to the couch in his room.

"Fine. What's up?"

"Aw, straight to business again? No time for pleasantries?" At the look he gave her she pouted. "Such a stick in the mud today."

Kirito sighed. Honestly, he was being a bit short with her today. "Sorry, been a long day. Between finding Asuna, that's the fencer girls name as I'm sure you know, trying to get herself killed, your client continuing his pestering trying to buy my sword and Kibaou spouting off all that stuff about beta-testers. I'm just… exhausted from the day." He slumps next to her on the couch, choosing to omit the _other_ thing that had been on his mind until she knocked on his door.

Argo frowned and patted his shoulder sympathetically. "Yeah, cactus for brains was really gettin' on my nerves too." She grins as a thought pops into her head. "I guess it's just his nature to act like a _prick_." Kirito shakes his head but smiles and chuckles softly, making Argo grin wider. She hesitates for a moment before letting her smile drop and putting on a serious face. "I hate to add to your already long day, but I came because the 'client' made another offer." Kirito frowns and looks at her, silently asking how much. "39.8 K."

Kirito jolts upright. "WHAT?" Kirito shouts just under the volume that would have penetrated the bathroom door. "My sword is nice but not worth 40 thousand Col!"

Argo lifts her arms up in exasperation. "That's what I told him! He still made the offer."

Kirito's brow furrows and he takes out 1500 col. "1500. I want the name. See if he'll raise."

Argo hesitates with a slightly worried look on her face before nodding. After a few moment of messaging, she turns back to him and says "He won't raise. You sure you want to know?" Kirito tosses over the in-game currency and Argo sighs. "Alright. It's your other major annoyance. The one that isn't trying to get herself killed."

Kirito looks at his friend with shock. "Kibaou?"

Argo nods. "Got it in one." Seeing his brow furrow again as he looks at the floor, she continued "You okay?"

"Yeah, yeah. I just… need to figure this out."

Argo smiles and pats his shoulder again. "Well good luck." She stands up and stretches before saying "If you don't mind, I'm gonna use your bathroom. I could really go for a soak."

In his contemplative state, Kirito didn't think before responding "Sorry, Asuna's using the bath right now."

Argo freezes "Wha-wha…" She whirls around quickly enough to make Kirito realize what he said and look up. "K-K-Kii-bou! I was just j-joking earlier! And you said you weren't trying to pick her up! And now she's… she's…"

Kirito watches Argo say this looking shocked, flustered and… disappointed? Huh, that's weird. He quickly decides to stop her. "A-Argo, it's not like that! She just wanted to use the bath since there isn't any at the town inns and I'd already rented out the whole second floor here."

Argo stops and looks at him for a second before sighing with relief, for whatever reason. "Oh, okay." An idea suddenly pops into the whiskered girl's head and she smiles devilishly, walking towards the bathroom door. "Well, if it's just us girls, it doesn't really matter too much if went ahead and joined her." She turns back to Kirito as she stands just outside the door. "Of course, it's _your_ room, so it's only fair if you want to join us too~" She says with a wink.

Kirito is frozen for a second as Argo reaches for the door. _You know what,_ Kirito thinks, _Dad always said he thinks better when he's out killing monsters. I think I should go test that theory._

Kirito is already out the door and hastily making his way downstairs when he hears a certain fencer scream from within his bathroom.

* * *

The day of the first-floor boss raid had arrived and Kirito had… mixed feelings.

On the bright side, despite being justifiably miffed by Argo's actions the previous night, Asuna had still come to fight and seemed to be acting pretty much the same as she always did around Kirito. Another positive was that Kirito did actually find it easier to think when he went to fight those mobs after Argo's escapade.

The problem came with what he thought of out there. No matter what way you looked at it, his sword was worth 40,000 col, and he wasn't even sure Kibaou had access to those kinds of funds for something as simple as a sword. Kirito confirmed this when he looked him over to see no upgrades from the equipment he had at the boss meeting, despite having ample time. If anything, Kibaou would have been putting up all his funds for a single object.

So why? Kibaou's equipment was by no means bad. If he wanted to increase his reputation he could have upgraded his own stuff instead of trying to buy Kirito's. The only idea that Kirito could come up with that made any sense to him was that Kibaou was trying to cripple him before they reached the boss fight. But to what purpose? They were both trying to clear the game and having two people with a decent sword and ability is far better than only one. There was only one possible reason for Kibaou's desire to damage Kirito's abilities.

Kibaou somehow discovered Kirito was a beta-tester.

It made sense. Kibaou hated the beta-testers, he would definitely want to take things from them if he got the chance, he said as much at the boss meeting. But would he really stoop so low as to try and weaken them before a boss? Risk them getting killed? And that still doesn't explain where he got those funds.

Kirito shakes his as they begin walking through the dungeon. He turns to look at Asuna, who had a distant look herself. As if sensing she was being looked at, she snapped her attention to the black haired boy who quickly turned away.

"Tell me," she said in a low voice, "How long do you think this game will last?"

Kirito looked at her in slight confusion. "How long til we beat it? Well, if we continued going at the pace we currently are, it would take… well… a really long time. But I don't think that's gonna be the case. If all goes well here, it should go a lot faster for the later floors. It took us so long to get this far because of our hesitation, which is fair, a lot of players haven't even left the starting town." Asuna looks down slightly at this. "But once this boss is gone, it'll encourage more people to actually try and clear the game. I don't think it should last more than three years, just about, and I'm prepared to fight until then."

Asuna smiles ruefully "That's quite a fighting spirit. I don't think I could do that. Honestly, the idea of dying here, in this fight, is more appealing to me than spending years in this place."

Kirito looked at the girl and understood her, to a certain extent. Back in the real world, the loneliness he would feel, the isolation from everyone, at times it would make him think in a similar fashion.

But this girl had so much _potential_. Her natural skill made her stand on par with people with years of gaming experience. If she could survive and actually honed that talent, there was no doubt she would become one of the most useful warriors on the front lines.

And besides, she was one of the few people he had any kind of connection with in this world, he didn't want her getting killed from self-doubt.

So, he had to do for her what he did for himself to get out of his slumps. Find something, anything, to just get him to the next day, the next week, the next month ('Well, I really want to see what happens in the next issue of this manga, and I can't do that if I'm dead, so…').

"You know, they probably have some really great baths on the upper floors. Ones that would put that one in my place to shame."

"… S-seriously?" she says in a voice high enough to make some of the other clearers look around at them. Blushing, she continues "You better not be lying or I'll make you pay."

Kirito grins slightly "Alright, I'll hold you to that."

It is around this time that they reach the doors to the boss room and Kirito takes one last look at the message Argo had sent him that morning.

[Good luck in the boss battle today Kii-bou. Be careful, I'd hate to lose my favorite customer ;3 ~]

He smiled to himself as he tuned in to hear what Diavel, the raid leader, was saying, frowning slightly at how he, while pumping everyone up, might be making people a bit _too_ confident. A healthy level of trepidation was good when going to risk your life against a giant monster.

Kirito shook off his doubts about Diabel and decided to focus on his own side of the battle.

* * *

 _No._

That was all that went through Kirito's head as the blue polygons signaling a player's death rose from his arms. Diabel, the one who, as Kirito had just deduced, had tried buying his sword to prevent him from getting the last attack bonus. The one who had told Kibaou he was a beta-tester, saying Argo had told him instead of revealing his own beta tester origins. The one who forged the path to the first boss room along with his party. The one who inspired all of the raid members to fight. The one who told Kirito it was his duty to finish this.

He was dead.

He had died in Kirito's arms.

Kirito didn't feel sad. He wasn't happy either. And he certainly didn't feel apathetic after that.

He was _angry_.

That bastard had done so much, good and bad, and just _left it there_. He had done so much that could've potentially hurt Kirito and didn't even give him a chance to offer back a piece of his mind! All because of his greed, wanting to get the last attack bonus. All because of wanting to survive. All because of this game. Because of Kayaba. Because of…

Kirito's gaze shifted to the Kobold Lord, and looking it over with new eyes, he knew there was only one way to describe the ghastly figure.

… A _Monster_.

Standing up, Kirito held the monster in his glare for just a moment before he heard a soft voice next to him, Asuna, say "I'm with you."

Kirito nodded, and then he ran, Asuna right beside him. As he ran, he knew he had to get the players around Ilfang away, or else he would use his long-range skills. The problem was, he didn't know how to grab their attention. This was luckily solved by Asuna, who shed her cloak as she ran, revealing a sight that could only be described as _radiant_.

Kirito nearly stumbled but was able to continue running. The closest thing he could relate her beauty to were the nymphs he had read about in some of the books regarding monsters that his father owned. Beautiful creatures of the forest who lured men in, usually causing them to get lost but not much more. If not for their general hatred towards man-made things, especially technological devices, he would have thought maybe she were one who just happened to play the game like him.

Regardless, this caught the attention of practically everyone in the room, the light seeming to be drawn to her. This gave Kirito the chance to yell "Get away from the boss! He'll only use the long-range sword skills when he's surrounded!" This evoked a response, after a moment to process both the beautiful girls in front of them as well as his words, as the gamers all fled from around the boss. This gave Kirito and Asuna the chance to slip through them and get to the boss. What happened next was mesmerizing to the other raid members.

In blur of blue and red, the two worked in prefect sync with each other. They battled the boss in the same way they handled the Ruin Sentinels and steadily chipped away at the final health bar of the beast. For what seemed like an eternity, they seemed unstoppable.

Finally, with the boss bar down to around half, Kirito was hit. The single hit from the boss brought his health bar down to mere third of what it was initially. It was all Kirito could do to lie there with the uncomfortable numbness damage brought spreading through his body. Looking up, he saw Ilfang approaching him, and then a pair of slender legs blocked his vision. Asuna stood between the boss and him.

… _Asuna. No. Move-_

He wanted to say those words, but he couldn't get them out before the boss ran forward, launching a sword skill that would surely end both of their lives. As the red light surrounded the nodachi and crashed towards the pair, sudden blue light stopped it.

Once the light faded, Kirito saw what it was. Standing before them was the behemoth of a man known as Agil, the one who defended the beta testers in the boss meeting. Looking down and smirking slightly, he said "Going in against boss as straight dps without a tank was pretty dumb. You rest up, we'll hold him off while you use a pot."

Kirito was about to be obstinate and try standing up, but eyeing his health bar in the yellow, he chose to simply nod and say "Thanks". Agil then led his party, plus Asuna, to face off against the boss. Kirito called out sword skills as he saw them approaching, giving the tanks time to react and guard as they steadily dealt damage to the boss. It then did something no one expected and leapt into the air preparing to strike with a sword skill from above.

Kirito leapt into action, despite his health only having refilled to about 70%, using Sonic Leap to rocket into the air, aiming his sword at the glowing red. He released a second sword skill, disrupting the Kobold Lord's motion and sending him tumbling to the ground and making it prone.

"Surround it, now! Take it down!"

Agil's group surrounded and started smashing it with their weapons, bringing it down to the red. Unfortunately, they weren't fast enough and Ilfang began to rise before they could finish him. As he rose and began to crouch again, getting into position to leap once more. Kirito ran forward and yelled "Asuna! One more Linear!" At her nod, they both ran forward in sync and slashed at the monster, with Kirito's Vertical Arc landing a split second after Asuna's Linear. With that blow, the health bar reached zero, the monster fell to its knees and exploded into polygons.

A large banner saying "Congratulations!" appeared above where the boss had been and a purple screen appeared before Kirito which read "You got the last attack!"

They won.

They _won_!

"WE WON!"

A chorus of cheers rang through the boss room. As most of the raiders whooped and hollered, Kirito was standing oddly silent from where he landed after his attack, Asuna standing next to him and looking at him strangely. Agil the axe-user walked up to him and extended his right fist. "That was some good commanding out there. Damn fine sword skills too."

Kirito seemed to snap out of a daze with that and he looked up at the giant man and smiled tiredly. "Yeah thanks. Thanks for the save."

"WHY?"

That voice came from a member of Diabel's group, the rest of whom were in various states of distress. Kirito looked at them questioningly before the man continued.

"Why did you let Diabel-san die?!"

Kirito heard Asuna whisper "What?" but simply continued looking at the group. Almost immediately after this, murmurs started circulating around the room.

"Yeah, he totally knew what the boss was going to do."

"But how could he know that? We all had the same information."

"I know how, he was a beta-tester!"

At this Agil stepped forward. "C'mon, what about the guide-book. Argo blatantly said that this was information from the beta."

"Sh-she must have lied!"

"Yeah, she wanted to help the other beta-testers get ahead!"

"Kibaou, was right! Those dirty beta-testers don't care about us at all!"

Oddly enough, the cactus-haired man was silent throughout this, with a hard to interpret look on his face. Still, Kirito knew this was getting out of hand. An idea had formed in his head, but…

"That Argo really is a rat! Just like the rest of the beta-testers!"

He had to do it. He had no choice.

As Asuna and Agil looked as though they were about to step in again, Kirito began to chuckle sinisterly. Everyone in the room turned his attention to him as he formed a sly smirk with his mouth. As he delivered the following monologue, a very different one was being played within his head.

"You think I'm a beta-tester, huh?"

 _If I do this, it's over. Any chance I had of joining a guild, or even having real friends within this game, they're all gone after this. I'm gonna be a solo-player forever._

"Please. Don't associate me with those noobs."

 _The friends I already made probably won't associate with me. Klein, Agil, Asuna. Hell, Argo has to keep her reputation and probably will leave me too._

"Most of those guys hadn't ever played an MMO before. Hell, even you're probably better than them."

 _I don't want to do this._

"But I'm not like them."

 _I don't want to be alone._

"I got to higher floors than anyone else in the beta. I knew about the boss's attack patterns because I fought and killed mobs who used katanas on higher floors. I know way more than someone like Argo."

 _But…_

"Th-that's not fair!" Someone interrupted, causing others to spring forth with their own thoughts.

"You're worse than a beta-tester, you're a cheater too!"

"Y-yeah! A beta-testing cheater!"

"A Beater!"

"Yeah, he's a Beater!"

The word stung Kirito's heart, and the looks he saw in the eyes of the people was familiar. The hatred, the fear, he knew that look since he was eight years old. It was the same look his grandfather gave him on Kirito's worst day. Still, despite the pain that coursed through his heart, he only let his smirk grow wider as he continued.

"A Beater. Yeah, I like that."

 _Nearly half of the beta-testers that logged into the official servers of SAO are dead already. Another just died in my arms._

"That's what I am, a Beater. Don't lump me in with those noobs from the beta."

 _If they were discriminated against, kept out of parties and player run shops, the rest would be soon to follow. Not to mention what would happen if more 'extreme' players found them in a non-safe zone._

Kirito went to his menu and equipped his last attack bonus item, The Coat of Midnight. He let the black leather coat finish fluttering and fall below his knees, turning toward the door at the back, before continuing.

"I'm going to open the teleport gate in the next floor's starting town. If you follow me, be prepared to be killed by any mob we might come across."

 _I'm used to being hated. To being feared and ostracized. To the anxiety of what would happen if I was discovered. I can take it. I_ will _take it. For all of them. For Argo. I will bear the hatred of this world too._

"After that, I'm continuing my journey to the top. To floor 100."

 _I will find something to keep me moving forward. I will find something to get me to tomorrow. And the next day. And the next._

"So all of you either shape up, or be left in the dust."

 _I will destroy this world._

With that, Kirito walked out the door, with the rest of the raid party's eyes trained on his back.

* * *

 **Greetings and Salutations! I hoped you enjoyed this chapter to "The Bloody Swordsman".**

 **So, in this one we went through the first two episodes of the anime, but I tried cutting out anything that would have remained mostly the same. I find that I'm mixing aspects from both the anime and the light novels, so I hope everything is going alright with that and you all can understand what's going on.**

 **I find that one problem in my writing is that I feel like the pacing is never quite right, at least to me, it always seems pretty fast. This may have been exacerbated by the jumping around in this chapter. I also feel like I'm not great at writing fight scenes, that one that I had at the end was pretty… meh. Let me know if you agree or have suggestions.**

 **I'm also a bit unsure of how well I captured the characters' voices, so tell me what you think about that as well (though, Argo was super fun to write, regardless of accuracy xP).**

 **Now, for some positives! This chapter came out as nearly 2500 words more than the previous one (not counting author's notes for either)! I also got this done in just over two weeks, which isn't too bad for me.**

 **I'm pretty pleased with how that dual monologue came out. I feel like things like that are done quite a bit, but it was a lot of fun to write.**

 **Thank you all for the support! 47 followers and 27 favorites is more than I expected xD.**

 **Anyway, I'll see you all in the next chapter!**

 **Edit: Had to edit this chapter to add line breaks, still learning how to use this sight. Please be patient with me :P**

 **Edit 2: Hello again! Yes, I wanted to edit one more time to address one thing that was pointed out by Apex86 that I forgot to mention here. Yes, this chapter is indeed very similar to canon, which is another reason why I chose to do both Episodes 1 and 2 in a single chapter. It probably won't start diverging too majorly until the chapter after next, as I still feel the need to set up some things and set a bit of a tone. MOre than anything I also wanted to do some internal Kirito monologues to also set up some of his mental state. Thank you for reminding me of this and I hope you all don't mind too much!**


	3. Chapter 2: Kung-Fu Vampire

**Greetings and Salutations once more! Thank you all again for your thoughts and constructive criticisms in the reviews! It actually gave me a couple ideas which I will expand upon after answering the individual reviews.**

 **CaluArd:** Ah yes, the ol' "scrape and lick". It would have been great, but t'was not meant to be. Though, still feel free to imagine it however you like.

 **Apex85:** I already kind of answered you in an edit I made at the end of last chapter, but yeah it was super similar and only after looking back on it now did I realize that wasn't too great. I was kind of going for more introspection and world-building but I don't think it came across too interesting. I tried to change some more things up this chapter and I hope you enjoy it!

 **TheRangerBoy:** Yeah, I was considering putting a reference in about that, but I decided against it :P I have kind of the same reaction to it usually but I just try and remember that they are actually speaking Japanese and I'm pretty sure that word is in English, so it doesn't really have the same connotation (as far as I know)

 **AmethystPone:** I'm glad! Yeah, it really sucks when you find a fanfic with a super interesting premise but the grammar and spelling make it unreadable. I have come across that many a time.

 **Flo463:** "Sugu? In _my_ harem? It's more likely than you think." -Kirito, probably. But yeah, when I said it's a mix of the anime and the novels, I meant more for when I visualized it I was picturing Kirito in his anime clothes rather than his LN clothes. I am following the progressive novels… kind of. You'll see what I mean.

 **SaintInfernalNeos:** Yep, Kikuoka is gonna be a really… interesting character in this fic. I go a bit more into him in this chapter. I have in fact read Lusus Naturae (which is great, by the way), but it is already an inspiration for several things that I plan on happening later in the story and I didn't want to just completely copy your work. I already had very similar imagery with the way Kirito's eyes are during his freakout moments (Though the colors for the sclera and iris are reversed). I do in fact have a plan though! I can't guarantee it's a good plan, but it's a plan nonetheless!

 **KnightEstoc:** I'm glad that I'm doing well with the characterization! I hope I can keep it up! Yeah, after having a few people point out how the Vampirism isn't really making much of an effect, I decided to change up my plan for how things are gonna work a bit. Still keeping pretty much everything plot related the same, but with something a bit different going on which you will see later. As for the tenses, yeah that's just something I'm really bad at. I tried making it a bit better this chapter, so I hope it's not too distracting. I can just never get it to sound right in my head without being super inconsistent. Finally, yes, Argo is great, I really hope I don't screw her up :P

 **Guest:** Thank you very much! I'm glad you're enjoying it and liked how I displayed his motivation :)

 **Taimpuro:** Ah well, I'm sorry you're not a big fan of the spectator viewpoint. I hope it will win you over if you decide to keep reading! I understand what you're saying, but my viewpoint was that Kazuto is really just a kid who's had a whole lot dumped on him. He's pretty emotionally unstable and definitely has a pretty big hero complex. Combine that with the fact that overwhelming angst is clearly a vampiric power, and you have him making a super bad and poorly thought out decision because he thinks he's protecting Sugu. I understand if you're not a fan of that direction though, hopefully it wasn't too much of a negative for you. Finally, you were definitely right that my previous chapter was severely lacking in dialogue and was mostly exposition. I tried to correct that in this one so I hope it reads a bit better!

 **PassiveNox:** Thanks!

 **Anyway, as you can tell I got several ideas of how things are going to change moving forward with this story. Hopefully you all like it! This chapter is where things start to diverge from the canon and it continues to do so in the next couple chapters after this.**

 **I would just like to say that this is not going to be a necessarily "good" fanfic. I'm a really bad writer and I'm really just trying to have fun with the concept I came up with. I still welcome constructive criticism of course, just don't expect this to really improve past my somewhat lackluster ability xD. Anyway, on to the fic!**

 **Disclaimer: In case you couldn't guess, I'm not Reki Kawahara, and don't own the rights to SAO. I just really enjoy it.**

* * *

 **Chapter 2:** Kung-Fu Vampire

* * *

 **Aincrad 2** **nd** **Floor, December 4** **th** **2022**

Vampires, besides their enhanced physical capabilities, naturally have several aspects which help them to survive and continue to "live" in the human world. One of the most powerful of these is their supernatural charm.

Though most vampires are unable to actually use a hypnotic gaze, those that do usually having lived at least a century in their infernal form, all vampires have an innate charisma about them which allowed even those vampires that were… less than pleasant to look at (and inspired the interpretation present in the film _Nosferatu_ ) to lure in their prey. They could be persuasive, deceitful, intimidating, anything that suited their purpose.

This is also a trait that Kirito shared with his infernal brethren, and one which he had used in order to convince the raid party, or most of them at least, that he was actually a "Beater". Someone who had made it to the upper floors in the beta-test, but chose to hide information for their own personal gain. He was very convincing too. When recounting the tale, some would even go on to say his eyes had turned from black to a deep maroon, making him look like a sinister demon. Most would believe this to just be people exaggerating or imagining things though.

He chose to do this in order to get the heat off of the other beta-testers and prevent them from being targeted and discriminated against. He had prepared for the consequence of this, being alone again, not having any one want to party with him, probably even having open hostility from most of the players he came across. He had prepared for that, planned for it.

So, you can imagine his surprise when he found the chestnut-haired beauty known as Asuna following him. He had expected her to leave after delivering him the messages from Agil and Kibaou and discovering how he knew her name, but she didn't. He then expected she didn't know the way to town and just needed a guide, but by the time they were nearing the starting town for the second floor, she _still_ followed him. His exasperation from this wasn't helped by the fact that apparently at least three people saw through his ruse.

 _Hopefully they wouldn't reveal the truth and endanger the other testers_ , he silently prayed.

When they started nearing the teleport gate at the center of town he finally decided to ask.

"How long are you gonna be following me for?"

"Huh?" came the confused response of the girl.

"You really should stop following me soon. They're gonna start thinking you're associated with me, that wouldn't be good for you."

Kirito was being honest. Anyone who associated with him now was at risk of suffering the same fate as he was, the one he was trying to spare the other beta testers from.

Despite this, Asuna rolled her eyes. "Oh please. I don't care about that. We're supposed to be partners, right? Besides, you told me that there were better baths on the upper floors, and I have to hold you to that."

Kirito chuckled under his breathe bitterly as he prepared to activate the gate. "Don't be stupid. Find someone you trust. Form a guild with them. You need to get allies in order to survive and beat this game."

With that he activated the gate. He spared a brief glance at the gate beginning to flash blue, ignoring Asuna muttering under her breath something about 'Trusting someone' and 'having an ally'. Then, in a blur of black, Kirito fled to hide somewhere so any of the boss raiders who went straight back to the town of beginnings to teleport wouldn't find him. After finding a place he could hide but still observe those who entered the town, he prepared to hunker down.

He settled in, but nearly jumped out of his skin when he saw the red-clad girl he just left sitting next to him. Damn she was fast! Kirito calmed himself down and glared slightly at the girl before him. "Stop following me."

"It's crazy for you to try and bear all the hatred for the beta-testers by yourself. You at least need some sort of friend."

She was right. Kirito knew she was right. But he couldn't allow her to throw away her chances for his sake. He had to protect her. So he does what he always does.

"What I can or can't do is none of your concern. Now _go away_. I don't want to be the next roundabout way you try to kill yourself."

A look of genuine hurt appeared on Asuna's face as she stared at him with an open mouth, taken aback by the ice in his words. "That's… I'm not…"

Whether she was going to continue or not, she didn't have the chance when Kirito looked down and saw a girl being chased by two black-clad figures. "… Argo?"

After following the figures, no easy feat considering their apparently massive AGI stat, Kirito and Asuna, who was _still_ following him, finally caught up with them in time to hear the tail end of their conversation.

"… We have the col, so tell us how to get the Extra Skill!"

"I already told you! I'm not gonna sell you that information! I don't wanna be blamed for what happens!"

Argo's pursuers did not take kindly to this. "We will do anything we must to get that information! We will even resort to-"

Whatever it was they were planning to do, they didn't get the chance, as Kirito jumped down between Argo and her black clothed assailants, doing a three-point landing to reduce the damage he would take. He stood up and immediately almost fell over again when he saw who had been chasing Argo.

"E-eh? The ninja-wannabes?" The two in front of Kirito wore armor clearly the same as the guild who had tried imitating ninjas during the beta. What was their name again? Fu… Food… Fuma…

"It's Fuumaningun!" Ah, right. That was it.

"Yes, and who are you!" Continued the other ninja.

"U-uh. I'm…" Kirito thought for a moment before responding "I'm hired muscle. The Rat's bodyguard."

"Bodyguard?" He heard Argo mutter behind him, but ignored it when he saw that the two in front of him beginning to draw their blades…

And stop upon hearing a thump behind them. Turning around, they see Asuna, who had previously reequipped the cloak she shed in the boss fight. She held onto the hilt of her rapier and was crouching while looking at the group.

"Body _guards_." She corrected, adding emphasis on the plurality.

The ninjas, not liking their odds against Argo and her two 'bodyguards', growled slightly before saying "This isn't over" and fleeing back towards the town.

Kirito sighs in a mixture of relief and exasperation and starts to comment "Those guys are seriously still roleplaying even though-" but is stopped by the feeling of arms being wrapped around him from behind.

"Thank you, Kii-bou." Argo softly mutters this into his back as she leans her head against it.

Kirito feels his face heat up slightly and replies "Yeah, well, you're gonna want to stop that rumor of me being your bodyguard from spreading. I'm not exactly the most popular guy in Aincrad right now."

Argo's grip seemed to tighten with this as she chuckles lightly. "Yeah, you just can't seem to stop taking care of me today, can you? That won't do." She mumbles this before releasing Kirito and positioning herself in front of him. "Alright then. To make it up to ya, I'll give ya one bit of info for free. Anything you want~"

Kirito was taken a bit by surprise that Argo was acting as… _normal_ as she was with him, he had expected her to cut ties in consideration for her business and reputation, though not as surprised as he was with Asuna's obstinance. Still, not being one to refuse free information, he thinks for a moment before responding. He _could_ have asked for her personal info, that sold for a hefty price of 100,000 col, but there was also something she apparently wouldn't sell for any price…

"Tell me about that Extra Skill the cosplayers wanted."

Argo deflated a bit at this but tries, and fails, to hide it behind a wry smile. "A-are ya sure Kii-bou? I got lotsa other good info. You want Aa-chan's measurements over there? I got a good look, all up close and personal like, ya know."

Both Kirito's and Asuna's faces burned a bright red at this statement, with the latter releasing an embarrassed exclamation that would be best described as a squeal. Kirito, closing his eyes and turning his head to the ground, simply shouted "Just shut up and give me the info!"

Argo drops her smile and sighs. "Alright. But you gotta promise you won't hate me for whatever happens." At Kirito's irritated nod she shrugs her shoulders and says "Follow me." She starts walking but stops and turns around once more with a sly smile. "You can feel free to come too, _Aa-chan_ ~"

This makes how many times Asuna's face has burned red from Argo's teasing in the last 24 hours?

* * *

 _Goddammit Argo._

That was the single thought that ran over and over through Kirito's mind as he repeatedly punched the rock. It has already been a day since the group of three arrived at the hut belonging to the old martial arts master NPC and since then Kirito has been punching a nigh-immortal rock night and day to try and get the marks on his face, which had made Argo compare him to an animated cat, removed.

By this point, the sun had set on the second day of Kirito's "Training" and Asuna, who had ended up following him and Argo, had gotten back from grinding on mobs and gone to sleep. Kirito wiped his brow and prepared to do the same, the unpleasant numbness from punching the rock having spread past his wrists at this point. He walks to the house, which held several small cots, but stops and sees Argo looking up at the sky, her back turned to him. He looks between the house and her for a moment before his curiosity overtakes him.

He didn't try to hide his presence as he walks to her, but Argo must have been pretty deep in thought due to how she jumps when Kirito spoke from behind her.

"Hey, what's up?"

Argo turned to look back, startled, but relaxed when she sees who it is. "O-oh. Hey Kii-bou. I'm just, star-gazing I guess."

Kirito glances up at the sky/ceiling above them. All the skies in Aincrad were quite beautiful, but this one doesn't seem to have anything particularly spectacular about it. Regardless he sat down next to her and spoke again. "Hm. It's nice huh? Irl it would be hard to find a place with as little light pollution as you have in these games. Did you star-gaze a lot before?" He asks this before realizing this was definitely breaching the unspoken rule to not talk about real-world affairs. "S-sorry. I wasn't thinking."

Argo shakes her. "No, your fine Kii-bou. Truth is, it's kind of the opposite. I guess you could say I'm not really _star_ -gazing as much as… _moon_ -gazing." She looks back up at the night sky, particularly at the silver sphere shedding bright light. "I never really… got the chance to appreciate the moon back there. I stayed inside most nights, my parents were pretty over-protective. But now I'm here, and every night I can just look up and there it is, so big and bright, and it's the only thing that's exactly like it is there. It's just… real pretty, ya know?"

Kirito looked at his friend, taken aback by how much she revealed, without even asking for a single col. Still, he felt he could understand her to a certain extent. "I was always kind of a… _night owl_ myself. I would see the moon so much I got a little bit sick of it, heh." He chuckled slightly while scratching the back of his head. "Still, I think I get what you're saying. I… burn, pretty easily in the sun. Sensitive skin I guess. So I couldn't really enjoy being outside during the daytime. Then I got here and I could feel the sun on my face without having to worry. It was pretty great." He paused for a moment before adding one more thing, having forgotten for a moment that he was supposed to be pushing Argo away to protect her. "I'll tell you what, once we reach floor one hundred, you and I will find a nice clear field or something and we'll go ahead and watch the moon together. No fake skies from the ceiling, the real deal."

Kirito looked up to the sky and failed to see Argo's face turn a bright red in response to his suggestion. She chuckled lightly as she replies, "Don't make promises you can't keep, Kii-bou." She looked up to the sky once again. "But yeah, that sounds nice. Wish I could see the real one, though."

"You will," Kirito promises, "just as soon as I destroy this world."

Argo look sad for a moment before masking it with a wry smile. "You're really the type of guy that puts the weight of the world on his shoulders, huh? Beatin' this game is gonna be pretty hard if ya try to do it alone."

"I work better on my own."

"Ya sure about that?" Argo asks this with a laugh. "How many times in the beta did me and Meri-chan have ta bail ya out of somethin'? And I don't think ya woulda done near as good during the boss fight without Aa-chan."

Kirito frowned as he saw where his friend is going with this. "I can't let her stay with me Argo. You either. I did what I had to in order to protect the other testers, and you guys hanging around me is just gonna harm you. It's for your own good."

Argo remains silent for a moment before replying "Ya know, you're kinda a self-righteous prick sometimes." She cackles jovially. "I mean, jeez Kii-bou, did all that black you're wearing give you the extra skill _Angst-lord_ or something?" She returned to being serious but retained a small smile. "Aa-chan actually gives a damn about you. I do too, for whatever reason. You don't have to do things alone."

"… I'm used to being alone."

"I am too. Doesn't make it any less unpleasant."

Kirito let the silence sit for a moment before sighing. "Yeah, alright." He looks at Argo with a tired smile. "You know, you're actually pretty good at giving advice for a "Rat". You gonna charge me for that?"

Argo smirked at him and replies "Tell you what, let's just say this was me paying back the rest of a favor." They both chuckle, but after a moment Argo's face turns deadly serious. "There is one more very important piece of information I need to give you, though."

Kirito looked at her with a confused expression and tilts his head to the side slightly. "What's that?" He asked with a somewhat worried tone.

Argo looks him in the eyes and inches closer. She says in a low voice "All that black _does_ make you look like an edgy teen's sith lord OC."

If someone on the mountain listens closely, it is said you can still hear a palm hitting a face and a devilish cackle spreading into the night.

* * *

Kirito completed the quest the day after his conversation with Argo. While he and his two companions walked down the mountain, he grabbed Asuna's arm and slows her down so they are a few meters behind Argo.

"Asuna," he began "I… I wanted to apologize. I know I said some hurtful things and… I'm sorry. I know you just want to help."

The girl looked back at him for a few moments before laughing. Kirito is taken aback by this and looks at her in confusion. "It's okay, Kirito-kun. What you said did hurt, but I know you were just trying to protect me. It doesn't make it right, and you definitely need to make it up to me, but I understand what you were trying to do."

Kirito nodded readily. "Yeah, of course. Man, I'm relieved."

Asuna smiled at him. "I'm glad, _Angst-sama_."

Kirito stumbled at this. "A-ah. I see you've been talking to Argo."

Asuna nods. "Mm-hmm, she's been teaching me MMO jargon too. And that also brings me to how you're going to make it up to me. Argo told me that there's a mob that drops what I need to upgrade my rapier here on the second floor. They're supposed to be pretty annoying to deal with, but I figured with the both of us it should be easy-breezy."

Knowing the mob she talking about, and knowing that it was indeed _very_ annoying, Kirito was desperately trying to think of a way out of it, but in the end simply replied "A-alright…"

"Hey!" Argo called mischievously from in front of the two, "Quit makin' out back there and get a move on!"

* * *

 **Outskirts of Kawagoe, December 7** **th** **2022**

"Good afternoon Kirigaya-san."

Sugu waved to the woman at the front desk of 'The Nakamura Foundation for Society's Improvement: Saitama Branch'.

"Good morning Suzuki-san."

"Here to see Kazuto-san again?" Sugu's nod prompted the woman to reach into her desk and pull out a small key. Handing it over she says, "You know the way, right?"

Sugu nods again and takes the key. "Thank you. See you in a while Suzuki-san."

Walking into the elevator, Sugu looks at the button pad holding a button for floor one and one for floor two. It also had a keyhole beneath it and bit of empty space beneath that. Sticking the key in the hole and turning, the empty space flips revealing 4 more, smaller buttons labeled B1-4.

Pressing the B4 button, Sugu steps back as she feels the elevator descending deep into the earth. Once the door opens again, she steps into a brightly lit hallway and starts walking down it, passing several doors before coming to the 5th on her left. She walks in to find a room that would be nearly indistinguishable from any normal hospital room. The only major differences were the lack of windows and the leather straps with magic symbols on them attached to the bed. The latter of which were currently restraining the room's only occupant.

Sugu sat down on the chair next to the bed. "Hi Onii-chan," she says, "sorry I'm a little bit late today. Kendo practice ran long."

It had been a little over a month since Sugu's adoptive brother became trapped in the game of death known as "Sword Art Online" and since the man named Kikuoka had taken him to this secret facility. That man, as Sugu had learned later that same night, was a government employed hunter who Sugu's father had met several years ago. Minetaka called him as he and the rest of his family did not have the resources to care for Kazuto on their own, not even knowing how long a "half"-vampire who only drank animal blood could survive without said blood.

This had been a big risk, as government employed hunters hunted both monsters and freelance hunters who had gone rogue. Luckily, Kikuoka didn't seem to consider harboring one's monstrous nephew as "going rogue".

Still, Sugu didn't like it. There was just… a feeling she got around that man that made her danger-sense go off the charts. She had begun doing her monster hunting training at that facility, due to the top-quality equipment they had, but stopped when Kikuoka had told her she had "talent" and offered to "recruit" her. It just, for some reason, felt as though she would have been selling her soul to the devil.

Still, Sugu made sure to go visit her adopted brother every day. As much as she disliked that man, she disliked the idea of leaving Kazuto alone with him for a full day even less. Most of the time she would just watch over him, but sometimes she would talk to him about her day, regardless of the fact that he couldn't hear her.

Today was one of the latter.

Sugu finishes her recap of the events that led to her being late that day and then released a sigh. "I wonder what it's like for you in there. Are you staying safe? Knowing you, probably not. You're probably jumping into deadly pits of lava just to save someone, aren't you?" She looks him over fondly at the memory of him doing almost exactly that for her. "You're still alive though. I'm glad. I don't think I could take it if you died in there. Losing you for a third time would just be too much." She reaches her hand out and places it over Kazuto's. Despite his vampiric origins, his hand never lost its warmth. "How about this, you make sure you're safe over there, and I'll make sure you're safe over here, deal?"

She squeezes his hand slightly. _Don't worry Onii-chan,_ she thinks as her eyes dart over to the camera in the corner of the room, _I won't let anything happen to you._

* * *

 **Aincrad 3** **rd** **Floor, December 15** **th** **2022**

Since Kirito and Asuna had reached the third floor, things had gone quite well. Kirito was surprised to see the Dark Elf they fought with, Kizmel, survive past their initial encounter, but it was quite a pleasant surprise, as she reminded him of a character he had made for Sugu during the short stint of her watching him while he played games. She had then become quite a nice companion in the short time they had known each other, having even opened up to Kirito one night about the loss of her sister, in turn making him feel concern for how his own sister was faring in the real world. Kirito hoped that their… time apart had made it so she wouldn't be concerned for him in his digital prison.

Regardless, he was happy to have Kizmel accompanying him and Asuna, curious as to how long it would last and awed at the level of, for lack of a better term, consciousness that the NPC had. She truly did feel as real, or at least close to as real, as Asuna or Argo or Klein, if a bit odd.

So, of course, something had to come along and ruin it.

This 'something' came in the form of a field-boss known as Nephilia Regina, the Queen Spider, which was very different from the one Kirito had fought in the beta. Not only did it summon nearly two dozen small, not particularly powerful spiders known as Spider Hatchlings in a nightmare inducing way every time it dropped down 30%, it also shot out small spine like hairs which, while doing minimal damage, would cause a slight dizzying effect.

Kirito's knowledge of the attack patterns, minus these two new effects, as well of the attack patterns of the Hatchlings were the only things that had kept them alive long enough to get the field boss down to 50% health. Kizmel was not far off from that and Kirito and Asuna were already below that mark. There-in lied the problem.

If Kizmel fell below 30% health, or either of her companions fall into the red, she would activate her self-sacrificing skill she had used in the beta. She would die.

Kirito logically knew that this didn't really matter. He knew that she was really just a bundle of code. There were probably many more 'Kizmel's around for whenever the other players began the Elf War questline. But still… he didn't _want_ to lose her.

Maybe it was because of how… alive she seemed, being closer to an AI than a simple 'Prompt-Response' NPC. Maybe it was because of how she made Kirito think of Sugu. Or maybe it was because Kirito had a total of four friends in this world and he was seeking companionship anywhere he could find it.

(He could almost hear Argo in his head saying 'Or maybe it's because of the… _assets_ she demonstrated in the tent that you got a view of~' before shaking off those thoughts with a blush)

Regardless, he had resolved to do everything within his power to protect both of his companions. He also resolved to try and work on his increasingly apparent hero-complex because, as anyone taking a peak into his head could tell, it was getting somewhat out of hand.

The battle forged on. The spider was brought down to 45%, 40%, 35%. Kirito saw that he and his companions were also dropping steadily, but not enough to activate Kizmel's last resort. The problem came when the Arachnid boss dropped to 30% and the second to last volley of dizzying spines, which seemed to have been buffed for the last stages of the battle, shot out. This also coincided with when Kirito was defending Asuna from the last of the current wave of Hatchlings, causing him to get bit and drop 3%, down from 32% to 29%.

Into the red.

Asuna quickly turned around and finished off the small spider, but not before a small gasp escaped Kirito's throat, making Kizmel look over to him and see his ragged appearance.

"Kirito!" She shouted before glaring towards the enormous spider. "Do not fear. I will not allow you two to fall, I shall destroy this creature with a single blow."

 _No. No no no. I can't let this happen._ Thought Kirito as he started moving

As Kizmel began reciting the incantation to release the power of the holy tree and pointing her hands towards the Queen Spider to aim, Kirito leapt in front of her with his arms spread wide.

"Stop!" Kirito shouted, causing Kizmel to lose her concentration and stop reciting.

"Kirito? What are you doing?"

"I don't want you to sacrifice yourself. Not for my sake at le-"

Kirito's explanation stopped when he felt a numbness spreading through his side. He looked down to see one of the boss's legs had struck him on his left flank. It was one of the weaker attacks the boss had, but it dropped him 6%. He watched his health bar drop once again.

Kizmel and Asuna both yelled his name again at his being hit, but Kirito didn't hear them. As the red bar slowly dipped beneath a quarter of his health, it was almost as if something snapped inside of him. A truly terrifying instinct rose up within him, one he had only felt two times before in his life. It was similar to the adrenaline one felt when confronted with a dangerous situation, only stronger and more wild. It was as if anger and instinct exploded within him telling him to kill everything around, do anything, in order to _survive_.

The first time he experienced this, he didn't know what it was and simply gave into it, hurting his grandfather and causing the alienation from most of his family in the process. The second time he suppressed it so he didn't end up hurting his sister. He immediately wanted to do the latter again.

But he had an idea. He couldn't let it overtake him like it did when he was first exposed to holy water, but maybe he could direct it. Maybe he could simply point himself at the boss, let himself go wild and end up saving everyone.

… It was risky, but he didn't know if he had another choice.

This all went through his mind in a moment and when Kirito looked up, he saw Kizmel with a shocked expression looking into his eyes which had, unbeknownst to Kirito, gained an animalistic glint.

"Keep Asuna safe." This was all Kirito said before turning towards the boss and releasing a noise that was somewhere between a hiss, a scream and a shout.

And then he _moved_.

Most videogames allowed for some pretty unrealistic feats, and SAO was no exception, but Kirito moved beyond what his AGI parameter should have allowed. He was like a blur of black leather and gray steel as he rushed in, swinging his sword and crashing his fists into the Queen Spider.

Anyone would be shocked and awed by the sight, but there were two points that particularly surprised the only two witnesses to this event.

The first was that even though Kirito seemed to be fighting with reckless abandon, he was still dodging most of the boss's attacks. He moved his head to the side here, twisted around there, moving before either of them could even see the attack was coming. He was still being damaged and wouldn't be able to keep it up forever, he still lasted longer than anyone else could have.

The second point was how he was fighting, in that he was only using sword skills. For most, this would be a horrible idea as it risks their life due to the moment you are frozen after a skill, something he had scolded both Klein and Asuna for in the past. But… Kirito didn't have his cool down. He was _chaining_ his skills together one after another, quickly positioning himself to move directly from one sword skill into another. While this was _theoretically_ possible, few had been able to actually succeed in a combat setting, let alone continuously do it against a boss. But Kirito, seeming to disregard what was "possible", continuously moved with either hi sword or some part of his body shining with the signature light of a sword skill's activation. Even when the final wave of Hatchlings spawned he quickly adjusted his movements to deal with them before returning to the boss. The way he moved was beautiful in a terrifying way.

Overall, Kirito's deranged state lasted for 42 seconds.

Nephilia Regina went down after 40.

As Kirito's virtual heart finally began to slow, he looked up too his health bar sitting at 2%.

 _Well, that was certainly something-_ was the last thought that went through his head before he blacked out and fell to the ground.

When he awoke, he saw Asuna leaning down next to him holding a now empty potion right over his mouth and Kizmel kneeling by his other side.

"Ah, I see that _that_ worked out. Well, that's good. I'm gonna have to tell Argo that the boss was buf-" Kirito began saying before he was interrupted by Asuna grabbing onto both of his shoulders hard.

"Why did you do that?!" Asuna shouts at him. "I almost… I almost _saw_ you die. I… what was I supposed to do if that happened? What were you thinking?" Her eyes were beginning to gather tears at the edges as she glared down at him.

Kirito looked away. Honestly, his thinking had just been _'save everyone, kill the big spider, put my curse to good use for once'_. He hadn't really… though of how Asuna would've reacted to watching him "die" (Which he still didn't think would necessarily _kill_ him, but he would still like to avoid the risk when possible).

After a moment he finally looked back at her. "I guess I wasn't. I just… didn't want to let either of you die. I'll try and be more careful next time."

Asuna looks at him for a moment more before turning away and closing her eyes, a small pout on her lips and her cheeks tinted a faint red. "You better, idiot." She loosened her grip on his shoulders but didn't let go.

 _She's probably trying to make sure I don't do anything stupid before I finish regen-ing my health._ Kirito thought as he released a small laugh. It was then that Kizmel finally spoke up.

"Kirito… how did you do that?" She looked flabbergasted. "I have never seen even the most dexterous of knights do anything of that sort."

Kirito stiffened slightly as he reached through his mind to try and find an answer that would work for this situation. By the time he replied Asuna was looking at him as well. "Ah, well, I guess it was just adrenaline. I kinda just let my instincts take over." He released an embarrassed laugh and rubbed the back of his head, a bit awkwardly considering he was still being semi-pinned by Asuna. "Humans can do some pretty incredible stuff if someone they care for is in danger. Speaking of which," his eyes harden slightly as he looks at Kizmel, "I don't want you trying to sacrifice yourself again. At least not for me. I don't want to see you die…" _… again_ , he almost added.

Kizmel looks at him with surprise and… something else he can't quite figure, before she responded "Very well, if that is what you wish."

Kirito sighs with relief before thinking of something. "Hey, did either of you see the spider drop something after it died?"

* * *

In an endless void of endless digital nothingness, a system known as cardinal detected an anomaly in the world it was running.

 **Error Detected.**

 **Error report: Player has surpassed parameters set by system. Unknown stimuli has effected player's NerveGear. Player ID: Kirito**

 **Scanning Error… Scanning…**

 **Scanning complete. Subsystem O activated. Activating system command:** _01001101 01101111 01101110 01110011 01110100 01100101 01110010 00100000 01001101 01100001 01110011 01101000_

 **Researching… Complete**

 **Interpreting… Complete**

 **Sending system command to NerveGears… Complete**

 **Implementing… 1%... 2%... 3%...**

As Cardinal began its process of recognizing and implementing the unknown stimuli, a little girl in a white dress, imprisoned and prevented from performing her duties, her purpose, tilted her head in confusion at the events taking place. She waved her hands and pulled up the footage of what Cardinal was analyzing. She was shocked at what she saw.

… Not at the battle taking place, no that wasn't really very much up her alley. No, what shocked her was the sight of a young boy standing in front of an NPC and preventing said NPC from sacrificing herself, putting himself in harm's way and risking his life in the process. He risked everything… for a program. For nothing but a few lines of code. He put everything on the line and…

… He _saved_ her.

She reached out toward the projected images of the dark clothed swordsman. _Will you save me too?_ She questioned within her mind

* * *

Kirito was many things. A swordsman, a vampire, a gamer, a guy with a major hero complex, a really shitty adopted brother. But above all else, he was a teenage boy. So, you can imagine how he felt when his bath at the Dark Elf camp was intruded upon by his very unabashed ally Kizmel.

"U-uh" He stuttered, seemingly unable to form a coherent thought.

"Oh, Kirito, I see you are taking the chance to wash off the grime of today's journey as well." The dark elf replied, referring to the quests the two of them and Asuna had been on that day, similar to those of the previous two days as well. She then reached for her clasp and removed her armor and cloak, the sound of a bell signaling this within the game.

"A-ah. Yeah, I was, uh, just getting out now, so I'll leave you to it."

Kirito began to get out before Kizmel interrupts him. "Oh, before you go, can you wash my back for me?" Kirito froze and began to refuse before Kizmel frowned and spoke again. "I haven't had anyone do it since Tilnel…"

And that's how Kirito found himself washing the very… "well-endowed" NPC's back.

"I am glad I found you, there's something I wished to speak to you about." As Kizmel spoke Kirito tried his best to avert his gaze and prevent his face from reddening even further. "I've been having dreams involving you. About when we first met. Visions of me dying, sacrificing myself, and you are always there. You are with people I haven't seen before. A group of other men, a young girl with bright green hair. Whoever you are with, you are always there, and you always look at me with sadness as I fade away."

Kirito felt his body stiffen slightly at the mention of events that clearly took place in the beta. "Ah, well, that's odd. I haven't teamed up with anyone besides Asuna in a while."

"Yes, I too was confused. I thought perhaps they were windows into other worlds, like the one you and Asuna came from." Kizmel suggested this, likely based on Kirito and Asuna's explanation that the players were really 'Humans from another world who had been trapped in Aincrad'. "Regardless, seeing those dreams has made me feel as though we are… connected. And I think I know why. Do you remember when fighting the Queen Spider, the power you unleashed when close to death? I think I know why that happened." She turned around causing Kirito's face to turn a shade akin to a ripe tomato before she continued her thought. "You are not _truly_ human."

All the color that had previously rushed to his face immediately drained. "A-ah? W-what are you talking about?" He spluttered out while in his head furthering his questioning with _What's she talking about? She can't know I'm a vampire, right? I mean, I'm not a vampire_ here _, really. So… what's going on?_

"Well, not completely human, at least." That was… not much more comforting for Kirito, honestly. "I believe you are a _Night Touched_. A human blessed by Sarela, the first of the Dark Elves. I believe yours to be a blessing quite powerful, but with a cost as well."

"A-ah. I'm not sure if that's really-" Kirito was interrupted by the sound of Asuna calling from outside the tent.

"Kirito-kun? What's taking so long? You said you would only be a minute."

"A-Asuna! I, uh, was…"

Before Kirito could finish, Kizmel got out of the bath and quickly re-equipped her clothing and armor. "Thank you for washing my back Kirito. I hope our partnership may continue for as long as the gods allow." She then exited the tent and Kirito got a small glimpse at Asuna's face, slowly shifting from utter shock and embarrassment to a look of… what could lightly be described as 'seething anger'.

"… Kirito-kun…" Kirito heard this outside the tent and decided he should probably get some armor on…

… Quickly.

* * *

Kirito had a hard time sleeping that night.

It probably didn't help that he was sleeping on the ground outside Kizmel's tent at Asuna's… 'suggestion'.

The main reason, though, was the conversation which had taken place between him and Kizmel in the bath. What was this ' _Night-Touched_ ' thing supposed to be? Had he triggered some kind of special event? And why did it seem to be at least vaguely similar to vampirism.

(Well, at least that's what his panicked brain thought. He didn't actually get much other than 'powerful and with a cost')

Honestly, that was what was making him so uncomfortable. He had come into this game to escape from all that, to live in a world where he didn't have to worry about it. Even with him trapped there, he still felt like it was a better life he was living in the game than out of it. At least within SAO he was actually helping people by trying to get them out of there.

If something happened in Aincrad to bring his life outside there, he didn't know what he would…

"Kirito-kun?" Kirito's thoughts were interrupted by Asuna, who had walked out of the tent and then stood in front of the black-haired boy.

"A-ah! Yeah, Asuna? What do you need?"

Asuna looked away from him and he thought he could see her cheeks turn faintly red, though it was quite dark.

"I just thought you might be cold." She replied in a slightly irritated voice. "So I thought, since Kizmel said you didn't do anything inappropriate ' _Even by human standards',_ " Asuna did her best to imitate the dark elf's manner of speech, "I might as well let you stay in the tent if you hadn't fallen asleep. But I'll be keeping my eye on you! N-not that I'm going to watch you sleep, obviously. I just mean…"

Kirito paused for a moment before responding. "O-oh! Yeah, yeah! Thanks a lot."

Asuna again looked away for a moment before responding "Yeah, sure."

As Kirito settled down for the night, now within the tent, a different set of thoughts ran through his mind.

 _This is going to be fine. I have Asuna._ He looked at the girl who had turned her back to him, not doing a really great job of 'keeping an eye on him'. _And Argo. And Klein and Agil. Kizmel too, I guess. I won't lose them, no matter what. I'll figure it out. I'll do whatever it takes. And I'll save them all._ His thoughts pause as he realizes his 'Hero-complex' was showing itself once again. _Ah, there I go again._ He smiled slightly before turning his head once more toward the sky and lifting his hand up, as if reaching for the heavens. _And after I destroy this world, I'm going home. I'll fix things with mom and dad. I'll go to grandpa's grave, pay respect to him. But above all,_ his fist clenches, _I'll make everything up to you Sugu, no matter what or how long it takes. I swear._

Turning over Kirito found himself falling asleep very easily after that.

In the morning, as Kirito and Asuna walked out of Kizmel's tent in the sunlight, Kirito squints and holds his hand in front of his face.

"Kirito-kun? Are you alright?" Asuna asked with concern.

"Yeah," Kirito replied, his brow furrowing, "the sun just… seems really bright today is all."

* * *

 **Aincrad 9** **th** **Floor, January 14** **th** **2023**

Two figures strolled through the halls of a large palace set in the 9th floor of Aincrad, extravagant tapestries adorning the walls and sconces giving off seemingly natural light in spite of the lack of windows within the hall.

"So, is your health regenerating okay?" Asuna, now wearing improved cloth armor from her previous, relatively un-upgraded variety, asked as she shifted her eyes slightly to the side towards Kirito.

Kirito looked over to his health bar and nodded. "Yeah, almost up to full again. Man, the sun really does a number on me, huh?" He, unlike Asuna, had not had much of an apparel change, though he did carry a new sword as opposed to his former signature Anneal Blade. Thinking of this, he looks to his partner's waist and asks "How's your rapier doing? I know it was really great on the third floor, but you may want to think about getting an upgrade."

Asuna frowned at this and drew her Chivalric Rapier. "Yes, I suppose you are right. To be honest I'm surprised it has lasted as long as it has. We've been through quite a lot these past few floors."

Kirito's chuckle is accompanied by him scratching the back of his head. "Yeah, this whole Elf War questline got a lot more intense than in the beta. Honestly it was unlike anything I've ever seen before. I still miss poor old Escapane."

Asuna's head nods along. "Yeah, he really never saw that tusk coming. But you're right, it was pretty crazy for a while. I wouldn't be surprised if we never saw anything like it ever again."

Their conversation was then cut off by the sound of feet falling behind them and a familiar voice beckoning.

"Kirito, Asuna." They turned to see Kizmel behind them. "It is time."

* * *

"For your service to our Kingdom and helping us reach peace with our former enemies the Forest Elves, placing your own lives at risk and no doubt saving countless of my people, I, Queen offer you my sincere thanks and shall officially dub thee as Knights of the Lysulan Kingdom." The Dark Elf queen, a beautiful woman with flowing lilac hair and a womanly figure somewhat concealed by the modest yet stunning midnight blue dress, delivered her speech to a kneeling/bowing Kirito and Asuna, with Kizmel in the same kneel/bow about a meter behind them. "To commemorate your knighthood, I shall bestow upon all of you a gift." She stepped forward to stand in front of Kirito, gently lowering a One-Handed Longsword, which a guard had handed her, into his grasp. "This is the Queen's Knightsword, a weapon given only to some of the finest swordsmen to have fought by the side of the Lysulan Kingdom. May your aim be true and your strikes devastating."

Kirito took the blade, which carried a heft that he appreciated, and nodded his head. "Thank you, your Highness."

The queen then walked to stand in front of Asuna, now holding a cloak similar to that of Kizmel's only red with a silver trim and clasp. "Upon you I bestow the Cloak of Flurry. Given only to the fastest among my nights, this cloak shall disorient your enemies to make you even more difficult to hit. May your life last long and your health remain undisturbed."

Asuna repeated Kirito's actions. "Thank you, your Majesty."

The queen moved once again, however this time she walked behind the two players to stand in front of Kizmel. "And you, my dear knight, have been invaluable in assisting these two and saving our people. If there is anything you wish, I will do what is in my power to grant it."

Kizmel looked surprised for a moment and paused to consider before speaking. "Y-your Majesty, if it is agreeable to you, I would like to remain by the sides of my companions."

Both Kirito and Asuna had to fight back the urge to release a surprised shout. Kirito had previously explained to Asuna that after this, they likely would have to leave Kizmel behind. He didn't think the game would allow for such a powerful companion to be usable throughout the entirety.

The queen herself looked somewhat surprised, but not as much as one might expect. "May I ask why?" The queen asked with no ice in her tone, simply curiosity.

Kizmel responded, this time with more confidence. "I feel as though I have formed a strong bond with these two, one that I wish to hold onto as they try to return to their world." She paused for a moment before adding "Additionally, Kirito appears to be a _Night Touched_ and I wish to do what I can to help him on his way."

Kirito tensed as he always does when he hears the name of his 'condition' within the game. Asuna, however, does not show any sign of change as she was the only one besides Kizmel who knew of Kirito's situation.

… Well, neither _really_ knew of his situation, but they at least knew the aspect within the game.

The queen nodded her head knowingly at this revelation. "Very well." She places her hand atop the Elven Knight's head. "I hereby release you of your obligation to this land. Until the divine tree guides you back to us, you are free to go as you wish."

Kizmel bowed her head once again. "Thank you, my queen."

As the group of three exited the castle, the sun having set allowing Kirito to walk without equipping a cloak, Asuna was the first to break the silence happily.

"I'm so glad you are going to continue journeying with us, Kizmel. I was honestly worried about what we were going to do without you."

Kirito smiled and looked to his left where Kizmel stood. "Yeah, I'm glad your coming with us. We would've missed you a lot."

Kizmel smiled happily as well. "Of course, I am also glad my queen allowed it. It was true what I said, I feel we have bonded in a way I haven't with other elves before. And besides, I have to help Kirito find other _Night Touched_ so they too can know the truth of their situation."

Kirito stopped walking making him fall a few meters behind the girls as his brow furrowed. He finally spoke up and asked "What do you mean _other Night Touched_?"

* * *

 **Alternate Title:** The Hero Complex

* * *

 **I hope you all enjoyed this chapter of "The Bloody Swordsman"!**

 **As you can probably tell, in this chapter we went through the Intermission in Progressive volume one and about two chapters in Progressive volume two. And then… I did a time skip so I wouldn't have to go through any more of progressive's timeline.**

 **Don't get me wrong, Progressive is great. What I've read so far has been super enjoyable, but… I just don't really have time. I'm trying to balance reading Alicization, writing this, working and doing other things that I enjoy. I want to read all of progressive at some point, but I just can't right now and thus do not feel as though I can write a story around it. I even tried (and probably failed) to make a joke about it by Kirito and Asuna going on about how epic and crazy the quest was and how they'll never see anything like it again.**

 **I really felt like I wanted to bring Kizmel along on the journey, and there was also a plot I was trying to figure out how to explore but couldn't quite think of a not-super-convoluted way to get to it. Combine that with the criticisms of how the vampirism hasn't really effected anything, and voila, I thought of the** _ **Night Touched**_ **. I'm going to explore it more in the next chapter, but as you can already tell it has altered Kirito's character to have at least some vampiric characteristics.**

 **I wanted to explore Kirito's Hero-Complex in this chapter as it's very obvious that this version has one. He's always trying to sacrifice his relationship to other people and throw himself under the bus because he wants to protect them. This tends to make him into, as Argo said, "a self-righteous prick". But, you know, a lovable one. He's really gonna have to work on that and hopefully he'll be able to with the help of his lovely lady friends.**

 **Also, I have to say that I'm really proud of Argo's line about Kirito looking like "an edgy teen's sith lord OC", I thought that was really funny. I will say that Kirito may or may not be getting a new standard outfit in this fic.**

 **By the way, you can probably tell that my Cardinal section was somewhat inspired by the way the system logs are in "Chains of Fate". Yeah, even though I'm not done with Alicization, I went ahead and read the prologue. I don't think I was really spoiled for anything since I'm currently on volume 14, so that's good!**

 **I hope my ideas and general conventions were better this time around and I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Be sure to tell me what you think! See you all in the next chapter!**


End file.
